Heroes of Might and Magic V (2006)

I loved Heroes of Might and Magic V. I tried the earlier installments before, but never understood the game and its mechanics. For some reason, HOMM V was a lot more accessible and easier to understand.

In Heroes of Might and Magic V, you follow a classic story about saving the kingdom, repel invading factions like demons, undead and creatures of the deep, and become the hero that saves the day. You can play the good and bad campaign, each consisting of many different missions, or scenarios. The story is fair and has a good pacing. Because the game thrives on this story, I will not spoil it further.

The mechanics in HOMM V are relatively simple. You explore a map, with various resources, towns, small buildings and upgrades, to increase your strength, stats and army. On the map, different units are stationed, some friendly and ready to join you, but most of them are hostile. You fight them to earn XP, level up and unlock more skills. The goal of each map varies from scenario to scenario but mostly includes the conquering of a town or gate to win. Some scenario’s are timed, adding to the challenge.

This game is really hard. The first scenario is some sort of tutorial, and can be completed easily, but after that, the game turns 180 degrees and throws everything it got at you. In the later scenarios, the enemy AI can be unforgiving.

I really like all the units, their backstories and their overall design. They just look badass, have awesome attacks, sound effects, animations and skills. In terms of creativity and design, I think the creatures in this game are better than the ones from King’s Bounty.

The graphics are great for the time and the animations of the units en environmental buildings are nicely done. The color pattern is warm and soft and enhances the experience.

By far the best aspect of Heroes of Might and Magic V, is the sound. The (combat) music is absolutely great and the sound effects are spot on. I loved the satisfying sound effect of the scythe of the Wraith units and the four-sword attack of the Rakhasa rani. It is sound design at its best.

The mechanics, controls and interfaces are easy to understand and can be mastered fairly quickly. The only small issue I experienced are the timed missions. In your quest log, you see that you need to capture a city in a certain amount of days, but on screen, no timer, reminder or warning is shown, making you instantly lose the scenario when not paying attention.

Another small problem is the “stalemate situation”. In the later missions, you and an enemy AI hero can both control heroes and cities and try to take over the enemy city. Because all units get replenished every start of the week, both heroes can get exactly the same power level when buying new units every week. This way, there is no real advantage over the enemy and it is just “luck and prayer” if you hit hard enough.

Looking back at the game in comparison with King’s Bounty, I think I prefer the latter in terms of graphics, mechanics, story and overall atmosphere. Nevertheless, Heroes of Might and Magic V will always remain a classic and a piece of nostalgia from my youth.

Definitely recommend this game.